Ladies and Gentlemen, the United States is a fucked up place (Oh really Einstein?). I remember a while ago I saw a shirt from Modern Amusement that said on it, “Los Angeles: A Sunny Place for Shady People.” It made me giggle a little bit because being from LA it rang completely true; Los Angeles is sunny and does have a lot of shady people. Now what does this have to do with my first statement of the United States being a fucked up place? Well I want to change that shirt to: “The United States: A Mixed Weather Country for Shady People.” Why do I say this? Well on top of all the other shady things that the United States is doing, did, and/or plans to do (you may disagree with me, but then as Ron Burgundy would say, “When in Rome.”) another thing has been added onto the list and that is the concept and use of credit within this great country (of course it’s great it’s just a little fucked up, cmon, agree with me here).
The whole concept of credit seems a little shady to being with, but after watching a documentary entitled Maxed Out it has become clear to me that I may neva, eva, eva, eva, eva (supposed to be said like Chris Tucker did in Friday) going to use credit again. Before I go further I feel I must explain the concept of credit to people, its not what most people think it is (where you pop out your card of choice and pay for stuff); it goes much, much deeper. A surprising tidbit/piece of information to many people will be that the word “credit” comes from the Latin “credere,” which means “to believe.” To believe? Why do we use that word for credit? Well if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense because we believe that we have the money we spend when we take out that coveted credit card (Ha…it means “to believe card.” So true, so very true). It’s funny to know that the whole credit card system started in the early 1920s when fuel companies wanted to sell fuel to the growing number of automobile owners, but the credit system we know today didn’t start until the 1950s, which is logical because after WW2 common citizens had more spendable income that they had ever had before. Credit comes in during this time because working people wanted to buy something that was high priced and instantly, but because they didn’t have the money on them to pay for it or didn’t want to carry around that much money they would buy it from the merchant on credit, promising to pay it at a later date. At first merchants had a credit policy, but soon enough an entrepreneurial person set up a credit card.
The credit card as well as the credit card companies have come a long way since the simple times of the 1950s. Now almost everyone has a credit card in their wallet while some, like me, have as many as three. The reason for this influx has mainly to do with the ease of carrying around a credit card, but now-a-days credit card companies have so many good offers that go along with being a credit card holder. CitiCards has the “Thank You” Network, American Express has their “Wish List” thing that comes around every Holiday season, and Visa is accepted everywhere (seriously). Also, all as everyone knows, the money that we spend over a given amount of time is so closely tracked and tabulated by our credit card company and it’s sum total is given to us at the end of a specified term, usually a month. The problem doesn’t lie within this system (it’s quite neatly and meticulously laid out) the problem lies in the user of the credit card, namely us. Humans are animals that have to see something in order to believe, a perfect example of this is the number of people who don’t believe in God because they cant see God. When we are spending money on a credit card, we don’t actually see the money being spent; we just take out a card that magically pays for the expensive things that we couldn’t usually afford (or wouldn’t buy because of the wad of cash that we would have to pull out of our pocket). Not seeing the money that we actually expending is the key to why so many people get into credit trouble, we don’t actually grasp the damage that we are causing and the amount of money that we will have to pay back.
This is where credit card companies make their money. They make their money off of all the dumbasses who are too dumb to understand or recognize the amount of money they are spending. At this point is where they rack up the fees. Went over your limit? fee. Paying the bill late? Fee. Cant pay all at once? Fee. Wanna pay in increments? Fee. Wanna move what you need to pay on this card to another card? Fee. The fees keep going and going. Considering that a “late payment fee” is $45 and approximately a million people will have to pay a late payment fee in a given month, the credit card companies are making major bank (no pun intended) with out you even spending it on anything. They are basically getting money for not getting their money on time. Of course the loser in this is the poor person who didn’t have enough money to begin with to pay their monthly statement, but they don’t care.
Anyway all I’m saying is that the credit card companies have a nice little hustle on their hands when it comes to making money. So please, please, please don’t be the dumbass who get screwed over by them. Remember don’t pop plastic, use paper instead.
Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness But It’s Does Give You Some Hope Until You Get Happy, RealTalk.
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